


maybe we're fireproof

by taecheeks



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Choi Seungcheol is the best boy in the universe, Domestic Fluff, Fantasy, M/M, Minor Mentions of Violence, Vampire Hunter Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups, Vampire Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Woozi will fight you if you disagree, married jicheol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26860378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taecheeks/pseuds/taecheeks
Summary: The one where Seungcheol is supposed to kill a vampire and ends up saving him and falling in love with him instead.[A look in the past and present of vampire Jihoon and vampire hunter Seungcheol.]
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	maybe we're fireproof

**Author's Note:**

> Hello ~~ this is a spin off of my fic a game of survival, which does not have to be read before reading this one at all it's a stand alone but if you wish to, it's > [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24410719/chapters/58888729)
> 
> This is for Dreamy i love you happy birthday i was only going to write a quick one shot but then it got longer (omg this is so unlike me) and i didn't want to keep waiting and keeping it a secret so here it is 
> 
> they are children/teens in this chapter -

Thirteen Years Ago

His heart is going to beat right out of his chest. It moves so fast that he feels it throbbing in his face, his ears. Surely, he’s too young to have a heart attack, right?

Fear and nerves fill his gut and spread through his limbs until they’re shaking. He tries to hide it, keep his face blank, but he doesn’t know if it works. 

“Seungcheol, you go first.”

Seungcheol swallows down the lump in his throat, and doesn’t acknowledge the command. He doesn’t look back, doesn’t want his father to see his hesitations. They’re not allowed, not during a raid.

There’s only seconds a hunter has after they break into a nest. Vampires are fast, so fast you don’t see them coming. Almost as fast as the way his heart races.

Readying the gun in his hands, Seungcheol kicks his boot into the doorknob. It breaks with ease, and his father laughs behind him. It doesn’t amuse Seungcheol, but he worries that maybe the vampires inside feel safe enough that they don’t double up the protections of their nest.

He shakes his head mentally as he rushes inside. He can’t afford to think that way. It’s life or death, us versus them mentality. That’s what his father says during all of his training and how he’s responded every time Seungcheol has voiced his worries or guilt. 

If Seungcheol doesn’t kill them, they’ll kill him first.

“ _ Boy, left _ !”

Seungcheol twists on his heel and shoots before he eyes the target. The metal is unsteady in his hands, and he’s surprised he even hits the mark with how badly his hands shake. Someone on their team sucks their teeth in annoyance as the vampire falls to its knees, wounded but not dead.

Not because of Seungcheol. Another blast through the room has him squeezing his eyes closed, but surely the vampire is now down for good. 

It makes him sick. 

“Go, spread out,” his father commands. He’s gentle in the way he pats the back of Seungcheol’s head, though Seungcheol knows he’s going to get a scolding later. He’s been working on his target shooting, and he’s done well.

But this isn’t a cardboard piece in front of him. As much as his father has told him they’re monsters, Seungcheol can’t help but notice how human they look. Even with their glowing eyes. 

This is only his first raid, so maybe with time, he’ll be more like the hunters he’s grown up with. He has to be. 

It’s life or death. 

Seungcheol darts off down the corridor, fully alert. He strains his ears, peers down every inch, gun at the ready. There’s a handful of doors, but he ignores them all as he sees the heel of a foot at the very last.

He rushes in, ready to force his shoulder into a door, but it’s opened. The room is dark, and Seungcheol curses the fact that a vampire could tell where he was in the dark, with their eyes closed. 

Humans are at a disadvantage that way. Even their attempts at trying to be on the same level as vampires have failed. Vampires don’t appear in night vision goggles.

“Shit.”

Before Seungcheol can register the word, the door is slamming closed behind him and he’s thrusted against it. Seconds, that’s all he has, and he has lost them.

An arm presses into his throat, a knee into his crotch. He can’t move, and while he may be one of the strongest in his commune, he still is overpowered easily by a vampire. A vampire that feels small against him.

It’s too dark to see him fully. Seungcheol can just make out a face, inches away from his own. 

“You’re not killing me today,” the vampire seethes through his teeth, a quiet snarl. He sounds young, much younger than the vampires they’ve usually stumbled across.

Panic erupts inside of Seungcheol, and he tries to wiggle out, but he can barely move. He lifts his gun in an attempt to smash it anywhere, but he barely gets his hand up before that too is pinned to the door.

“You’re afraid,” the vampire goes on, and Seungcheol stills when he feels warm breath hit his cheek. “Is this your first raid, little hunter?”

Seungcheol shakes his head. He can’t speak. If breaking into the nest was terrifying, this is ten times more so. His father says everything is about survival, but he doesn’t know how to get out of this one. He’s too afraid to call for help, and he’s sure the words will barely get out before the vampire snaps his neck or something.

“No? I think you’re lying,” the vampire says, nudging the arm against his throat. “I haven’t seen you before. And you’re young. Twelve? Must be Choi’s son, then.”

“Thirteen.”

A laugh escapes the vampire’ slips as he moves his arm back and takes the gun from him without much struggle. Seungcheol refuses to move though, even when there’s space in front of him to do so.

“My bad, bro, thirteen.” The sound of the vampire pulling apart his gun to check for bullets echoes through the room, and Seungcheol’s stomach lurches when he hears the clip being pulled back. “A little late, no? Most hunters start their live action training earlier. Practically still in diapers and hunters throw their kids to the wolves.”

The gun is shoved against his chest then, and Seungcheol can’t hold in the gasp of fear that leaves him. He’s definitely going to have a heart attack or piss his pants. 

He can’t do this.

“Get out of here.”

Seungcheol doesn’t move as he tries to process this. Surely, this vampire isn’t letting him go? He’s playing with him. As soon as he tries to walk through that door, the vampire will grab him from behind. 

“I said go, and don’t mention you saw me here,” the vampire snarls as he shoves Seungcheol back. It takes him a second to realize it’s so the vampire can yank open the door. “It’s my birthday, and I don’t feel like killing anyone today.”

And before Seungcheol can even try to get a word out, he’s shoved into the corridor and the vampire disappears.

  
  


“We missed one vampire.”

Seungcheol sits quietly in the training room. The air is tense, so thick that he feels as if he’s choking on it. He keeps himself busy to try and calm down, volunteering to tend to the wounded hunters. They don’t pay him much attention then to glare at the sting when he cleans a deep wound, which he’s thankful because his hands are still shaking.

“A young one,” his father goes on, pacing in front of them all. “Either a dhampir or one turned at a young age. Now tell me, how did we miss one? We’ve cased this nest for weeks. We knew they would all be there tonight!”

His father sucks air through his teeth and throws his fist to the side in anger. Seungcheol remains quiet, glad for once that hunters don’t have the same super senses as vampires. His father won’t be able to hear his guilty, pounding heart.

“We will return next month, same time,” his father goes on, spit leaving his lips with his words. “When the bloodsucker thinks we’ve forgotten about them.”

“Gyungho, let’s not waste our time. It’s one vamp. I highly doubt he’ll return to his nest. They’re not stupid.”

“I agree. Gyung -”

“We’re going,” his father interrupts firmly. He narrows his eyes onto Seungcheol, and for a moment, Seungcheol thinks he can see that he’s guilty. 

“My son needs more training on his shot anyway.”

  
  
  


Again, Seungcheol feels sick. His skin is clammy and cold. He barely slept the night before, and he’s feeling the effects of it. He couldn’t eat today, and he’s both too sick to yet starving at the same time. 

He walks slowly, sweat building at his neck. He really doesn’t want to do this again, but he’s nudged in the back to keep moving. 

He hopes the other hunters are right. That the young vampire doesn’t return to his nest. His father insists that he will because it’s his home, he’ll assess the damage, gather their things.

Which just makes Seungcheol see them even more as human.

“Think you can handle a little vamp on your own?” the hunter beside him taunts. “Go on, then.”

“I never said.” Seungcheol shakes his head, eyes rolling though the hunter can’t see. He’s not for the competitions like the other hunters are. Especially the ones around his age. Always talking about getting into the Academy, being the best, comparing how many kills they have under their belt.

Seungcheol has no kills under his belt, and he’s really okay with that.

“Yes,” Seungcheol says, changing his mind. “Stay out here.”

He doesn’t wait for a reply before he hits the butt of the broken door knob and breaks it further. The vampire never fixed it before, Seungcheol really, really hopes that means he didn’t return.

But right away, he sees that he has. The opening of the nest is different than before. It’s empty. And clean. There’s not a single drop of blood that he can see, any sign that a slaughtering happened. 

There’s no sign that anyone has lived here at all.

Slowly, Seungcheol makes his way through the open area and towards the corridors. He looks into every room and finds them all empty.

Relief courses through him, growing more so with each step. Maybe his father will stop sending them back here if he thinks the place is abandoned. It would be a waste of resources, time, and energy for just one vampire. 

But his father can be obsessive, his pride hurt when one vampire escapes. It’s why he’s so hard on Seungcheol, shoving it into his brain to kill every one when most hunters are satisfied as long as the alpha is dead. 

Seungcheol steps into the last room, the one he had been in before. The curtains are opened now, allowing the lights from outside into it so he can see that it isn’t empty.

There’s a bed on the floor and something in it.

Something who only glances at him before going back to the book in its hands.

Seungcheol shakily lifts the gun in case it moves. 

“Did they really send you back here just for me?” the vampire says, bored sounding. “The rest of my clan is dead. What the hell else do you want?”

The vampire flies to his feet then, the book falling to the bed behind him. He slowly walks forward as Seungcheol inches back. The light isn’t enough to fully see him, but he can better than before.

He is young. Seungcheol has never seen a vampire so young. Dhampirs, born as they are rather than turned, are a myth. No one he knows has come across one before. Someone as young as this vampire is rare. His father has warned him that he may come across a child one day, but it’s unlikely.

“I’m sure Hunter Choi isn’t deranged enough to think of me as an  _ alpha _ ?” The vampire goes on, amused sounding. His eyes flash gold as if it’s Seungcheol accusing him of being one. 

“How old are you?” Seungcheol wheezes as he lifts the gun, aiming for the heart. The vampire doesn’t seem to care, taking another step further. It forces Seungcheol to take a step back until he’s nearly in the corridor again. 

“Twelve,” the vampire replies. His hand flies out to grip around the barrel firmly enough that Seungcheol can’t yank it from his grip. Regardless of his size or age, he’s strong. “If you remember, you kind of ruined my birthday.”

Seungcheol swallows, head shaking. If he doesn’t leave soon, his partner will definitely come running in. But he doesn’t want this vampire dead, he doesn’t know why. Maybe it  _ is _ because he’s so young. 

And he let him go. For no reason. When he could have very easily killed him.

“I didn’t want to.” It’s quiet, so quiet that humans may not be able to hear it but he knows the vampire does. “I don’t like hunting.”

The vampire scoffs at that. He doesn’t take the gun from Seungcheol, but uses it to push him into the corridor. There’s more light, and it casts across the vampire’s face.

There’s annoyance in his gold eyes. His features are as sharp as the knives lining Seungcheol’s boots. 

Seungcheol was right about him being small. A few inches shorter than himself, and his limbs are thin. Much thinner than his own, despite him being ten times stronger. 

“If you’re saying that just so I’ll let you go, don’t bother. Liars are annoying, and I’m going to let you free either way.” The vampire glances down at his cuticles like they’re talking about something boring. “I, unlike you, don’t kill children. Regardless of whether they’ve been sent here to kill me or not.”

Offense fills Seungcheol, and he glares in response. “You say that like you aren’t a children. I’m older than you.”

The vampire glances up at him through his eyelashes. “Okay, little hunter. Do you want me to kill you?”

Seungcheol shakes his head immediately. “No.”

With a sigh, the vampire stuffs his hands into his pockets and nudges his head to the side. “Go then.” 

Seungcheol doesn’t move. He readjusts the gun in his hands but refuses to lower it. He doesn’t believe the vampire, even if he really had let him go before. “You shouldn’t come back here. I doubt we’ll be back, but just in case.”

A small smile touches the vampire’s lips as he comes closer. “Worried for me?” 

_ Yes _ , Seungcheol thinks, but he shakes his head instead. It seems to amuse the vampire even more, like he knows he’s actually lying this time.

Some vampires can read minds, some can feel emotions. Seungcheol wishes it were easier to shut off his thoughts and feelings. 

“No need,” the vampire says simply. “I came back here to kill the one who killed my mother. Revenge, you see. But they sent you instead because Hunter Choi is a coward. Afraid of a little kid.”

The vampire laughs then, and it’s taunting. It annoys Seungcheol, but he pockets the gun into his pants. “Who killed your mother?”

The vampire shrugs, eyes dropping to where he toes his foot across the ground between them. “I think your father did. Parent for parent, eh?”

Seungcheol flares his nostrils. He may hate hunting, and when his father scolds him, but he loves his parents. They grew up in a hunting commune, they’re just teaching him the way they were taught. Teaching him how to protect himself.

Because he’s destined to be a hunter. He has no choice. His father is well known. Even if Seungcheol were never to be apart of a raid, he wouldn’t be safe. He’s a tool for revenge.

“My father isn’t like me. He doesn’t hesitate to kill.”

The amusement slips from the vampire’s face, eyes darkening and narrowing onto him. “I know. Yet hunters don’t see the evil in their actions.”

In a flash, the vampire moves. One second he’s a few feet away, and the other he’s right in Seungcheol’s face. Once again, Seungcheol can feel his breath, and he hates that vampires teach themselves to breathe. That they give him another reason to see them as human.

“One day you will see, little hunter, who the real bad guys are.” It’s spoken like a whisper, and a chill rushes down Seungcheol’s spine. “Now get the fuck out.”

Seungcheol refuses to move, head shaking. “You first.”

The vampire spits to the side, anger now radiating off of him. “I have nowhere else to go. You’ve destroyed my clan, and I don’t know how much you know about dhampirs, but we aren’t exactly welcomed amongst most clans. People like me get sent to research labs.”

Seungcheol hesitates, his mouth parting in shock. “I thought dhampirs weren’t real.”

He rolls his eyes and takes a step back towards the room. “Does it matter? Do your kind see us any differently just because we are half human?”

No, Seungcheol thinks. Probably not. If he told his father he didn’t shoot because it was a dhampir not a vampire, his father would just send someone else to finish the job. Someone more capable.

Someone who doesn’t struggle thinking vampires as human.

“Why do they send you to labs?” Seungcheol asks instead, glancing down the corridor in worry that his partner will enter soon. Too much time has passed. 

“Research,” the vampire spits out. He is now nearly hidden in the shadows from his bedroom. “My clan protected me, and now they’re gone.”

Guilt makes Seungcheol’s stomach hurt. “Can’t you just? I don’t know? Not tell them what you are?” 

The vampire laughs again, but this time, it isn’t amused. He doesn’t fight Seungcheol off from following after him, and Seungcheol doesn’t know why he does it anyway.

He wants the dhampir to be safe. It’s the least Seungcheol can do since his family is the reason he is not. 

“One look at me, and they’ll know,” the dhampir goes on. “Vampires don’t turn children unless they’re dying, and it’s usually by accident. An overfeed when they’re trying to make their last few moments comfortable.”

Pain twists in Seungcheol’s chest, his racing heart hurting. He wracks his mind for something, anything.

When it hits him, he leaps forward so quickly that the dhampir throws its arms out and snarls like he thinks he’s going to attack.

“There’s a place I know. You’ll be safe there. I go there to hide, and no one has found it. Do you have paper?”

The dhampir eyes him warily, his guard up. Seungcheol tries to muster up as many genuine vibes as possible in case this dhampir is one that can sense his emotions or his thoughts. 

“Why?” the dhampir asks.

“To write down where it is,” Seungcheol explains in a hurry when he hears a call for his name. His partner. He eyes around the room, but he doesn’t see many belongings. 

“No, I mean, why are you helping me?” the dhampir clarifies, his tone gruff. “And how do I know this isn’t a trap?”

“I could have killed you already,” Seungcheol snaps as he yanks open a drawer to a desk and finds a pen. “And I didn’t. You are safer there, I promise. Here.”

He scribbles onto the book the dhampir had been reading as quickly as possible, hoping his writing is legible as his name is called a second time.

When he gets it out, he shoves the book into the dhampir’s chest. “Go, now. My partner won’t hesitate to shoot, and I’ll be in some serious trouble if he tells my father you were here but not dead.”

The dhampir looks hesitant, baring his teeth as he takes the book and holds it to his chest. He growls when Seungcheol shoves him.

But when the sound of his partner’s voice is just past the door, the dhampir disappears. 

  
  
  
  
  


It’s tricky, sneaking out. So far, his parents believe that Seungcheol is walking out at night to adjust to the darkness. To learn better how to work in it, strengthen his senses.

He’s told his mother that sometimes he just needs the peace and quiet, to get away from the commune. She lets him go as long as he brings a weapon with him, and she’s agreed not to alert their father about his struggles. 

She doesn’t understand them either and constantly tells him that he shouldn’t think of vampires as human, but at least she lets him have this.

It takes him longer than he expected to be able to sneak out again. Nearly three weeks. He wants to rush when he does finally step out into the fresh, night air, but he keeps a causal pace.

It’s difficult to do.

He’s been thinking about the dhampir every day since they’ve last seen each other. He has no idea if he’s gone to the place Seungcheol gave him, but he prays that he has. That he’s safe and hasn’t been sent to a lab somewhere.

It makes him sick thinking that there are places like that, that vampires send their own kind there. 

When Seungcheol finds the abandoned building he hides in, he very slowly walks through it until he finds the door leading to the basement. He thinks this place used to be a commune because the door is hidden quite well, and the area it leads to is quite large. 

Many hunters live underground, hidden beneath businesses. Coffee shops, restaurants, clothes stores. They’re like vampires in that way, hiding themselves in plain sight.

The hair on the back of Seungcheol’s neck rises as he climbs down the ladder after locking the door above him. It’s difficult to climb with the heavy bag on his back, and he cringes when he lands with a loud thud.

The lights are all off, and he blinks hard when he flicks them on. He doesn’t hear anything, but that doesn’t mean anything. He can never hear a vampire. They move without making a sound. 

“Hey.” Seungcheol raises his voice this time. Everything seems like how he’s left it. Except -

A small smile touches his lips when he spots the book he had scribbled the location of this place in, resting on a table that has been moved from one part of the room to another. 

“Come out! I brought you some things.”

Seungcheol drops the bag onto the table and extracts the things inside. A change of clothes, soap, another book.

He is jostled to the side though the moment he pulls out a bag of blood. So hard he stumbles.

Fear rushes through him as he falls to the ground and quickly twists to look up. It is the dhampir, but he looks different. Like a monster. Like everything his family claims vampires to be. His eyes are blazing gold, and there’s veins running up his face, so clearly visible through his opaque skin. He tears at the bag of blood, snarling before bringing it to his mouth.

And he drains it in seconds.

The bag barely hits the ground after he tosses it aside before he’s digging into the bag again to pull out the next one. He drinks it just as quickly.

When he sees that’s all there is, he takes the bag and tosses it.

“I’m sorry,” Seungcheol says, leaping to his feet. “I couldn’t take too much or my parents would notice it was missing.”

The veins are still wiggling beneath the dhampir’s skin. He paces around Seungcheol, glaring at him. “Why the heck does a commune have vampire blood?”

Seungcheol eyes the bag. He didn’t know that’s what it was. He has been trying to figure out himself why his parents have bagged blood, but every time he asks, he’s told he’ll find out once he officially becomes a hunter. He says as much, but the dhampir doesn’t stop glaring at him. 

“Well, whatever, thanks.” The dhampir thankfully wipes at his bloody mouth with the back of his hand. “I haven’t been able to hunt, and I’m starving.”

“There’s humans all around.”

The dhampir curls his upper lip in disgust. “I don’t feed off humans. I don’t have the power to compel, so I can’t make them forget.”

Seungcheol doesn’t know what that means. He follows after the dhampir when he moves like he’s going to walk away. He doesn’t know if he believes him. The reason they had gone after his clan is because a series of vampire attacks in the area. “I’ll try and get you some more. I’m glad you’re here.”

The dhampir looks at him unsurely. “What is your plan here, little hunter?”

Seungcheol doesn’t know. He really hasn’t thought much about it other than keeping the dhampir safe. “I don’t know. I don’t have one. What’s your plan?”

“I don’t have one either,” the dhampir says. He points a finger to himself. “I’m twelve, remember? And now an orphan.”

He doesn’t have super abilities, but Seungcheol can feel the way the dhampir gets upset. It’s in his eyes, the firm set in his mouth, the way he fidgets with his hands before turning them into fists and stalking off. 

Seungcheol runs after him, even though he’s a hungry, upset vampire. There’s just something telling him that he can trust him. The dhampir’s had plenty of opportunities too.

“Just stay here, you’ll be safe, I promise. I’ll get you blood.” The words rush out of his mouth as he follows after the dhampir, finding that he’s brought everything from his bedroom here and made himself at home.

It makes Seungcheol happy. Maybe the dhampir trusts that he won’t hurt him either.

“If not, you can feed from me.”

Seungcheol is an idiot. He knows he is. He thrusts out his hand to show off his wrist, but the dhampir doesn’t acknowledge him. 

“I’m not feeding from you.” The dhampir slumps into the bed and curls his body away from him, hiding his face towards the wall. “I can’t control myself when I’m this hungry.”

Seungcheol hesitates as he pulls his wrist back protectively against his chest. “I’ll find a way to get you more.”

He takes a step back. He doesn’t want to leave yet, but he can’t be away from home too long, and he doesn’t think the dhampir wants him around. 

“Lock the door behind me. I won’t tell anyone else you’re here, I swear on my life, but to be safe. I’ll - I’ll knock twice, pause, then four times so you’ll know its me, and -”

“Jihoon.”

Seungcheol pauses at the quiet sound of the dhampir’s voice. “What?”

The dhampir slowly turns, his eyes still blazing gold but now they’re wet. “It’s my name. Just say it and I’ll know it’s you.”

A smile tugs at Seungcheol’s lips, but he has a feeling it will only worsen the dhampir’s mood more, so he fights it off.

Telling him his name is surely a sign that he trusts him, right?

“Seungcheol,” he replies, pointing to his chest. 

Jihoon only looks at him, the only acknowledgement he gets. It’s enough, for now.

“Alright, Jihoon-ssi, I’ll be back. I promise.”

He doesn’t know why it feels necessary to promise it, but Jihoon only nods in response and hides himself further. 

Ten Years Earlier 

“You fight like a bitch.”

“You  _ are _ a bitch.”

Seungcheol grunts as he swings his leg around, body twisting with it. He puts all of his strength into it until it connects with his target.

His target that doesn’t move.

Jihoon holds onto Seungcheol’s foot before he tosses it aside. Amusement fills his eyes and adds a wolfish grin to his lips.

Fighting with vampires is annoying. 

“If you want your father off your ass, you gotta at least  _ pretend _ you want someone like me dead.” Jihoon shakes his head disapprovingly before he curls his fingers to beckon Seungcheol forward. “C’mere.”

Seungcheol stands straight, hands firm on his hips. Unmoving. “No. I’m not falling for that again.” 

Jihoon rolls his eyes. “Okay, how about this? You’re going to be in a raid whether you like it or not. You  _ will _ have to kill a vampire if you want to live, alright?”

He moves then, shifting on his feet. When they fight, he doesn’t go easy. He doesn’t slow his pace or hit lighter. He fights like he would in a raid.

To help Seungcheol improve, he knows, but it still hurts his pride how easily Jihoon knocks him off his feet. Both figuratively and literally.

Seungcheol’s breath leaves him as he wipes out, back hitting the ground. At least Jihoon eases his fall with a hand tucked beneath the bottom of his neck so his head doesn’t bounce.

It doesn’t really hurt, but Seungcheol has to ground himself from the sudden room spinning and the fact that Jihoon is hovering over him.

“Care about me?” Seungcheol grunts as he lifts his knees to shove Jihoon off. 

Jihoon scrambles back after letting him go, plopping himself on the ground in front of him. “Can’t eat if you die, man.” 

Seungcheol heavens himself up, hands propped behind him. He wrinkles his nose at that. “I’m sure you’ll manage. You’ll have to when I go to the Academy.”

In response, Jihoon just stares at him. His eyes flash gold the way they do when he’s pissed or angry, which always happens whenever Seungcheol mentions the Academy. He doesn’t get it.

The Academy, off the coast of  _ somewhere _ , is a school hunters go to to train. To become better hunters. Seungcheol doesn’t really understand why he can’t just do that at home, but he doesn’t have an option. 

His father is insistent. Which is probably Seungcheol’s own fault because he has the skills already, but he fails every raid. 

“Whatever.” Jihoon leaps up to his feet, a hand out to help him up. “Just don’t come back ready to kill me.”

Seungcheol hesitates, eyeing the hand in front of him. Is that why Jihoon acts like an asshole every time he brings it up? “If I wanted to kill you, I would have by now.”

A loud laugh blurts from Jihoon’s lips. “Alright, little hunter,” he huffs, the sarcasm just as loud in his voice. “Try to actually hit me this time, would ya?”

His knife has been discarded since Seungcheol first missed his aim. It makes his stomach twist every time he holds in when they practice, but Jihoon tosses it from the floor at him so he has to.

He adjusts it in his grip, hating the way it feels. Jihoon has a point though. He’s going to be in another raid, he’s going to have to kill a vampire to protect himself.

He has to learn.

Even if it feels like the knife is going through his own chest when it connects to Jihoon’s shoulder.

Jihoon cusses as he pulls it out and wipes it across his shirt. “A little off, but good job.”

“I’m purposely not aiming for your heart,” Seungcheol explains as the knife is sent back to him.

“It isn’t silver. Can’t kill me. No excuses.” 

That’s true but either way, Seungcheol doesn’t want to see it. 

When their training session is over, Seungcheol is exhausted. He lays back on the ground, panting heavily, sweat covering every inch of him. He’s overheated, muscles aching because Jihoon didn’t let him finish until he actually won over him. 

Seungcheol curses his younger self for helping the dhampir. 

He only thinks it for a second, until Jihoon lays beside him and pats his chest like he’s proud. 

Seungcheol feels a little woozy, and he doesn’t think it has anything to do with being drained. 

“I think you tired me out for the raid this weekend,” Seungcheol complains because his heart is doing a thing, right beneath where Jihoon keeps his hand on him and he needs it to  _ stop _ . 

It doesn’t. It gets worse. It always gets worse with the dhampir. 

“Just don’t get yourself killed.”

  
  
  
  


Seungcheol doesn’t get himself killed. He hits his target, he just isn’t fast enough to avoid getting hit back. 

He doesn’t die, but god does it sure feel like it.

“You’ll be fine, alright? Just focus on me.”

There’s tears in Seungcheol’s eyes that he blinks away to look up at the hunter hovering over him. He’s in so much pain that it’s hard to focus. He doesn’t know where he is or how he got from staring up at the dim light of the den to the blinding one above him. 

They moved him around, and he thinks he blacked out from how excruciating it had been. 

His father replaces the face above him, his eyebrows screwed together as he pats Seungcheol’s face. “You did well today, son. Just breathe.”

Seungcheol can’t at first. He doesn’t even know where he’s been hurt because it feels like it’s coming from everywhere. 

But slowly, the pain fades. With each exhale. 

And then everything goes black.

  
  


When Seungcheol wakes, he’s in a bed in their infirmary. He aches, but it’s minimal compared to what it had been. 

There’s a wrap around his chest, one arm in a sling. The lights are too bright, and that’s more annoying than the stiffness in his back.

“Clawed the shit out of your chest,” Seungcheol hears, but he doesn’t feel like turning his head to see who is speaking. “You should be back to good in a few days.”

Seungcheol closes his eyes to escape the blinding light. He barely remembers what happened. His anxiety had been high as he shot his gun, even more so when he watched the bullet shoot through the vampire’s chest. And then all he remembers is pain.

“How do you feel?”

Seungcheol only groans in response. He gets a sigh before there’s fingers tapping beneath his chin.

He glares when he opens his eyes and finds their stay in nurse in front of him, his head blocking the blinding light. There’s a smile on his lips that Seungcheol can’t return. 

“How long have I been out?” he asks. By the amount of wrap and pain,  _ a few days  _ feels like too quick of a healing time. 

“Two weeks. You received quite a harsh blow to the head.”

Seungcheol jolts up, nearly knocking into the nurse. His heart races as he tries to climb off the bed, but strong hands stop him.

Two weeks. It’s not that much time. He’s been away from Jihoon longer, but whenever he comes back, Jihoon is nearly immobile due to hunger. 

“I need you to lay back down,” the healer says, forcing Seungcheol back. He keeps his hands on him like Seungcheol might try and escape again.

He does.

“What is it?”

Seungcheol stops at the sound of his father’s voice, dread leaking through him. He looks sheepishly over his shoulder to find him pacing slowly into the room.

Crap. It’s never easy to sneak away when he’s around. Seungcheol has been lucky in the sense that his father is addicted to the hunt. Most leaders stay behind, but his father likes to be on the frontlines. It causes him to be absent often. 

“I don’t want to be here,” Seungcheol tries, his tone weak. “The lights hurt my eyes.”

His father waves a hand at the healer, and the healer removes his hold. He goes on about Seungcheol needing to be here, but Seungcheol isn’t listening.

The last time he was with Jihoon, he only was able to bring him one more bag. If he gets hungry enough, there’s people occupying the space above him, but Seungcheol knows how much Jihoon just hates the idea of eating from a human.

He sees the torture in Jihoon’s eyes whenever he so much as mentions it. 

“Surely my son can rest and heal in his own room, no?” His father asks as he plants the back of his hand to Seungcheol’s forehead. “You must rest, understand?”

Seungcheol nods. He means it to be a lie, a promise he won’t keep, but as soon as he stands, he realizes he’ll be forced to.

Every part of him aches and is cramped. He gets dizzy halfway to his room, needing to stop and rest against the wall to regain his balance.

Seungcheol squeezes his eyes closed as he sighs and silently prays that Jihoon knows he’s coming. 

“I don’t need help,” Seungcheol mutters as he feels his father’s hands on him, attempting to guide him away from the wall.

He doesn’t have a choice but to take the help as his father refuses to let him go until he’s settled in his bed. 

As soon as his father is gone, Seungcheol let’s out the groan he’s been holding in.

  
  
  


After three more days of being unable to move, Seungcheol’s panic has him breaking his two years of silence. He can’t just sit here and do nothing.

Plus, he’s heard talk about his commune tracking a vampire close to their bunker. It could just be a coincidence, but Seungcheol can’t risk it. 

“I need your help.”

The unlucky soul assigned to watch over him and probably make sure he doesn’t exert himself is Vernon. They’ve been side by side for as long as Seungcheol can remember, growing up within the same commune together. 

He has to be trustworthy enough. He’s been sneaking Seungcheol snacks despite the strict diet his mother is trying to enforce.

Vernon quirks a brow up at him but doesn’t say anything as he gently removes the bandage around Seungcheol’s chest. He also hates raids, fighting. He’s spent the last few years being trained by their healer, and Seungcheol hopes that’s for the same reason he hates them himself. 

“You can’t tell anyone. I’ll make you swear it.”

Curiosity sparks in Vernon’s eyes as he tosses the bandage aside. “I’ll pinky promise.”

If Seungcheol wasn’t so nervous, he’d laugh at that. “I’m serious. You can’t tell a soul.”

Vernon sighs and nods. “Of course. You’re my best friend. That makes me the number one Choi Seungcheol secret keeper.”

That, Seungcheol does smile at. “I’m your best friend?”

For a moment, Vernon doesn’t say anything as he tends to the healing wounds. “Sure. You’re the only one here I’d be sad about dying in a raid.”

Seungcheol rolls his eyes, a smile tugging at his lips. He still hesitates, the words playing around in his mouth and refusing to come out. 

There is no one in this bunker that he trusts enough, but he has no choice. Any time Jihoon has been left too long without eating, he’s been unrecognizable, out of his mind with hunger that he’s shoved Seungcheol halfway across the room without realizing it.

But if that’s the case, he could also be putting Vernon in danger. He’s been trained to hunt, but not as much as the rest of them. 

“I can hear you thinking loud enough that you might as well say it,” Vernon coaxes softly. 

Seungcheol thinks quickly, teeth gritting from the sting of his wound being cleaned. “Do you know we have bagged blood in the bunker?”

Vernon hesitates, his fingers hovering over Seungcheol’s wound. He breathes in through his nose and dabs more cleaner on it. “Yeah, what about it?”

It’s his only choice. Seungcheol shifts, running a hand down his face with his free hand. 

“I need you to bring some somewhere for me.”

Vernon whips his head up, mouth opening around what Seungcheol knows is going to be a protest. He darts forward, ignoring the twinge of pain from the sudden movement. 

“Please,” Seungcheol whispers urgently, words edging on a beg. “It’s important.”

The uncertainty on Vernon’s face is loud, but Seungcheol breathes out in relief when he nods. 

“You’re explaining first,” Vernon says as he stands to retrieve the new bandage. 

Seungcheol closes his eyes and nods too. He hopes Jihoon understands. He swore on his life he wouldn’t tell a soul, and he’s intended on always keeping that promise.

“I - I have been doing a solo project,” Seungcheol starts, mind whirring to come up with a lie, “I’m - I’m trying to find something other than silver that injures vampires. Something easier and cheaper.”

He feels sick, stomach coiling at the thought. 

“I have a vampire locked away, one I stumbled upon after casing a nest Appa sent me to. A young one. He’s strong but weakens easily when not fed. The chance to capture another won’t come again, and I don’t need him dying before I can find the solution to our silver shortage.”

That sick feeling makes Seungcheol’s throat so right he has to pause in fear he may throw up. Silver is expensive and getting harder and harder to come by as the hunter population grows and expands. He hopes it’s believable enough that Vernon won’t suspect he’s lying.

But when Vernon remains quiet and only looks at him, Seungcheol can’t tell. 

“I have to prove myself,” Seungcheol rushes out. “I’m not a good hunter. I’m tired of hearing my parents’ disappointment because of it. I need to do something to make them proud.”

Vernon sighs, head shaking. “You’re shitting me. You have a vampire?”

Seungcheol isn’t offended by the disbelief written across Vernon’s face. It’s known throughout the commune that he hesitates and freezes up too much during a hunt. He’s often been accused and teased about being afraid of vampires, and he’s okay with people believing that. 

Them knowing the truth is worse. 

“That’s insane.” Vernon exhales out like he’s overwhelmed. “I’d never expect that from you.”

Seungcheol laughs awkwardly, and it isn’t amused. “Yeah. Will you help?”

Vernon still looks unsure. He doesn’t respond at first, busying himself with the bandages like it’s a distraction. 

After what feels like forever though, he nods. “I don’t like it. But if it gets you out of raids, I’m for it. I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d be bummed if you died, and at this rate, that’s what’s coming.”

  
  
  


Waiting for Vernon to return feels like a year has gone by. Anxiety fills Seungcheol the entire time. He can’t get out of bed to walk off his restlessness, and it’s torture. 

He’s worried Vernon is going to reveal his secret instead of help him. He swore he wouldn’t, but Seungcheol is too paranoid to believe him. 

Jihoon has been safe all these years, and Seungcheol worries he’s ruined that. 

“ _ Hyung _ .”

It’s night when Vernon returns. The door creaking open before he pops his head in cautiously. He walks in on his tiptoes like he’s afraid of being overheard.

It isn’t late enough for the entirety of the commune to be asleep, but at this hour, the hunters usually convene in the meeting room to discuss an upcoming hunt or leads they’ve found. 

“Are you awake?”

Seungcheol shifts around, pretending to be half asleep as he blinks his eyes a few times. He doesn’t want Vernon to see how worried he’s been. Doesn’t want Vernon to think he distrusts him, but also it’s even more dangerous to show a hunter how worried he is for a  _ vampire _ . Especially one he’s supposedly torturing. 

“No one was there,” Vernon whispers as he sits on the edge of Seungcheol’s bed. “I left the blood just in case.”

Dread fills Seungcheol. He hides his face so Vernon doesn’t see. 

Where is Jihoon?

“I think you’re lying to me” Vernon goes on, not waiting for him to respond. “The door wasn’t locked at all, and I saw no type of restraints in the place. Hyung, what’s going on?”

Seungcheol pauses, a chill sweeping through him. Jihoon usually always keeps the door locked, even though he insists he’d hear anyone coming. That it’s unnecessary and a pain in the ass to have to unlock it every time Seungcheol visits.

He sits up then. If Jihoon is weak, he could have left the door unlocked so Seungcheol can get in. But that would be  _ stupid _ . His senses would be down and anyone could get it without him hearing them. 

There’s no time to try to figure it out as Vernon demands his attention again, moving so he’s face to face with Seungcheol until Seungcheol focuses on him. 

“Tell me the truth.” It’s a soft demand. “This isn’t like you. I - I know you’re like me.”

Seungcheol hesitates, both eyebrows quirking. He recognizes the look in Vernon’s eyes, the same he knows he gets in his own whenever he has tried to explain to his parents that this life isn’t right for him. 

“I know you don’t want to hurt them.” Vernon gulps noticeably. “I’ve heard how bad you are in raids, but I’ve  _ seen _ you practice. You could be the best hunter in the commune.”

Seungcheol doesn’t know what to make of that. It could be a set up, a way to get him to admit that he’s never changed his mind about vampires.

“I don’t want to either,” Vernon whispers urgently. “That’s why I stay in the infirmary. I rather be saving lives than taking them away.”

He looks genuine, an intense look in his eyes, but Seungcheol is nervous.

“Here.” Vernon shifts so he can dig into his pocket and pull out a small vial. The liquid inside of it is dark. “It will make you heal faster. Just - just don’t tell any of the hunters about it, okay? Take it as a sign you can trust me.”

Seungcheol can’t see what it is fully, but his gut tells him what it is. Disgust swarms inside of him at the mere thought of it. “Is this blood?”

Vernon doesn’t look as disturbed when he nods. “Many hunters use it to heal or to level the playing field. If you drink a lot of it, you inherit a bit of the vampire’s power. Just a small dose like that though will only heal you.”

There’s so much of that that Seungcheol wants to comment on, especially the hypocrisy of it all, but he’s desperate to see Jihoon. He slowly uncaps it, eyes on Vernon the entire time to see any twitch of betrayal on his, before he sips it.

It isn’t immediate. The first thing Seungcheol notices is the stiffness leaving his body. Then, the pain slowly fades away.

When he can move his arm without problem, Seungcheol lungers forward and squeezes Vernon’s cheeks. “Shit, it worked.” 

He ignores Vernon’s protest to smack a hard kiss to his cheek, a sudden energy rushing through him. He jumps from the bed, stretching his body from side to side, but he feels brand spankin’ new.

“I have to go,” Seungcheol says once he’s satisfied that he’s able to walk around the room. “Cover for me.”

Vernon protests once more, leaping to his feet like he may grab Seungcheol, but Seungcheol darts into the hallway before he can.

“I’ll be quick,” Seungcheol promises before he closes the door and locks Vernon in behind it.

They have to be quiet here. It echoes. He tiptoes down the dark hallway, alert for any sounds like he is during a raid. Everyone is currently meeting right now, but he still is cautious in case one hunter has strayed from the others.

.Fear rocks through him as the sound of voices echoes past him, and he slips down a corridor leading in another direction. They grow closer, and Seungcheol squeezes his eyes closed like if he can’t see them, they won’t see him.

“I do have a problem with the vampire being young. He looks no older than my own son.” 

The voice is familiar, though Seungcheol isn’t sure who is speaking. The voice that follows however, he knows well.

“I know they appear human, hyung, but you mustn't compare. This is a bloodsucker, one that will kill your boy without hesitation,” Gyungho whispers firmly, the same way he speaks to Seungcheol whenever he’s opened up about his doubts. “They’re monsters. Nothing more.”

The irony in that is Seungcheol too has been raised to kill without hesitation. There is no difference, really. Seungcheol wishes his father grasped that. 

“If you wish to stay behind, you may. He is young and alone. A few of us will do.”

Seungcheol holds his breath when the voices grow loud enough to signal that they’re right next to him. His heart hammers in his chest in fear of being caught but also because of his father’s words.

Alone and young. It could be anyone else, but Seungcheol’s mind strays straight to Jihoon.

It seems to take about a century for his father and his companion to finally be far away that Seungcheol trusts he won’t be overheard. It feels impossible not to take off on a full speed run, his body filled with exclamation points that yell at him to get to Jihoon  _ now _ .

But he manages. Maybe he did receive some benefit other than healing from the blood because he can’t even hear his own feet hit the ground. He sneaks through the night just like a vampire.

And it’s pretty cool.

  
  
  


Once Seungcheol is outside, he runs. He doesn’t care about onlookers, regular citizens who don’t know about the war brewing between vampire and hunter in the city. 

Seungcheol is out of breath by the time he reaches the hiding place, sweat dripping down his face and making his shirt stick to his back. It’s taken his energy, and when he tries to rip open the door, he can’t.

It’s locked. They stopped locking it months ago from the inside. 

“Jihoon,” Seungcheol calls, banging on the door in the rhythm that signals it’s him. “Jihoon-ah, it’s me.”

There’s nothing for a moment, but then the sound of the lock can be heard.

Seungcheol nearly falls on his ass when the door flies open before he can even attempt to.

“You ass.” Jihoon’s voice comes out a growl as he rips Seungcheol into the hiding place. The doors slam weakly behind them, but all Seungcheol can focus on is the rough way Jihoon moves him around. “You brought someone else here? You promised.”

Seungcheol’s back hits the stone wall. It doesn’t hurt because the force in which Jihoon moves him eases right before his body makes contact with it.

“I had to,” Seungcheol whispers, relief washing through him. Jihoon is okay, he is okay. Even if the veins are covering every inch of his hollow face, he is  _ okay _ . “I couldn’t leave.”

Jihoon’s upper lips curls back as he steps in Seungcheol’s space. He doesn’t let the grip he has on him go. His eyes are glowing yellow, and in the back of Seungcheol’s mind he knows a hungry and angry vampire isn’t a good combo, but he trusts Jihoon. 

He trusts Jihoon more than any other hunter he’s ever fought beside. 

“You promised,” Jihoon repeats, the roughness in his tone easing a bit. He takes another step forward, leaving nothing but a breath of air between their bodies. He’s a few inches shorter than Seungcheol, but the power radiating from him makes him seem like he’s towering over him. “Where the hell were you?”

Seungcheol licks over his lips, hesitating as Jihoon’s eyes leave his face. They seem to glaze over as his nostrils flare, fingers squeezing even tighter around Seungcheol’s shirt. 

And he moves closer, lips parting enough that Seungcheol can see the fangs that extend longer than any human’s. 

“Hyung,” Jihoon whispers, and he sounds as out of it as he looks as he leans into him. “You’re not afraid?”

Seungcheol shakes his head, lips pressed together. He doesn’t think he could ever be. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you so long and break my promise.”

Jihoon doesn’t seem to hear him as he tilts his head forward. Seungcheol freezes, his stomach doing acrobatics, his heart trying to win a track meet. The entire olympic games are going inside of his body as he feels Jihoon’s breath hit the thin skin of his neck. 

“I was injured. I couldn’t come here.”

Jihoon stills. He doesn’t move back, and he’s so, so close. Seungcheol can nearly feel his teeth against him, and part of him wants him to. To see what it feels like, to have Jihoon’s mouth on him, as an apology for sending someone other than himself here. 

“And - and I know how much you hate feeding off humans, so I sent Vernon here so you wouldn’t have to. He can be trusted, I promise.”

Slowly, Jihoon pulls his face back but not the rest of his body. He releases his grip on him, but keeps his hands flat on his stomach. “You were injured?”

Seungcheol kind of wants to pull him back, ask him to feed. He wonders if he drank the blood Vernon left behind or if he stopped himself because it was from someone he didn’t trust. “Raid. Vampire clawed up my chest. Knocked me out. Did more, probably, I don’t know, I couldn’t walk. I don’t think they told me everything.”

Jihoon’s rage comes back. A growl rumbles through his throat as his fingers press into Seungcheol’s stomach like he might grip onto him again, but he doesn’t. “Who?”

Hesitating, Seungcheol tries to remember. “Uh, we don’t really ask names before we shoot.”

If they did, Seungcheol would think about each one every night. He’s thankful he doesn’t know their names. He struggles enough as it is. 

A small smile appears on Jihoon’s lips, and he steps back fully now, puts too much space between them. The veins stretching up his face remain. “You couldn’t come a few hours ago, but you’re suddenly healed now.”

Seungcheol rolls his eyes and rubs at the back of his neck. If there’s anyone he can tell about drinking blood it’s Jihoon, but he’s embarrassed. Ashamed. “I drank some vampire blood. Just a little bit.”

He holds his fingers up, pointer finger and thumb barely a centimeter away from each other to emphasize. 

Jihoon paces, hands on his hips. Eyes glaring. “I did try to go out, to feed. Was drawn to someone who smelt like you. A hunter from your commune, I suppose. I can hear them wandering around the area. I thought they had finally found me.”

Shit. “We should relocate. Find another bunker to hide in.” Seungcheol starts moving around like that will somehow help come up with an idea. He doesn’t know where to take Jihoon, but he’ll find a place. “Somewhere out of the city, I’m sure.”

Strong hands grab Seungcheol, forcing him to stay still. It doesn’t hurt, but Jihoon rubs up his arms like he’s apologizing in case it has. “Come with me.”

Seungcheol stares at Jihoon’s mouth. It’s moving, that’s for sure, but he doesn't understand what words it’s forming. “What?”

“Come with me.” Jihoon let’s him go and crosses his arms. “You hate hunting, you hate being there. You’re just going to get yourself hurt again or worse. So come with me.”

Surely, Jihoon isn’t asking him what he thinks he is? Seungcheol’s eyes nearly bulge out of his head as he tries to process that. “You need to feed. You’re spouting nonsense.”

He takes off to find the blood bags that Vernon left behind, heart once again speed racing. He’s always wanted to leave, sure, but he can’t. He’s Choi Gyongho’s son. A notorious vampire hunter. 

And if he leaves, his father would hunt him like he would a vampire. He knows it. 

“Hyung,” Jihoon calls, racing after him. “If I go somewhere farther away, it’ll be even harder for you to visit.” He grabs Seungcheol’s wrist, holding him back. “And if I think something has happened to you, I’ll rage and probably take it out on innocent people that I’ll end up eating.”

Seungcheol turns at that, one eyebrow arched. “You’d rage out if something happened to me?”

Jihoon glares at him, but he rubs his thumb softly over Seungcheol’s wrist, over the vein on the inner side. “That is not the important part here. What’s important is I would feel super guilty about it and it’d all be your fault.”

Amusement swells up inside of Seungcheol enough that it clears his brain. He still doesn’t know about this, but he is no longer panicking at the idea of it. “I don’t think I can.”

“You can.” Jihoon steps closer again. The smile on his lips is soft. “We’ll figure it out as we can.”

If Seungcheol didn’t know that dhampirs couldn’t compel humans, he’d think Jihoon was using that on him. Because he  _ does _ feel compelled, but conflicted. 

“I don’t know.”

Jihoon is distracted again, eyes falling to Seungcheol’s throat. “You won’t have to go to the Academy. You won’t have to pretend any longer.”

“Think about this when you have more of a clear head and aren’t looking at me like you’re going to eat me.”

It’s meant to be a joke, but Jihoon doesn’t laugh. He fucking  _ nods _ and yanks on Seungcheol’s arm until they’re pressed together.

Butterflies erupt in Seungcheol’s stomach. If Jihoon didn’t feel so guilty about feeding from humans, hadn’t constantly turned down Seungcheol’s offers over the years, he’d want him to. Well, he does want him to, but he doesn’t think Jihoon’s in the right mind to make the decision.

“Don’t,” Seungcheol whispers when Jihoon reaches up and rubs a thumb over the vein of his neck. It spreads goosebumps across his skin. “Feed first. If - if you want to after, you can.”

Jihoon nods, stepping away, but not after pressing his thumb down against Seungcheol’s throat. Right over his pulse. “I’m not leaving here if you’re not coming with me.” 

He says it with finality, and Seungcheol knows he means it. “You’re not safe here.”

At first, Jihoon doesn’t say anything as he sidesteps him to retrieve the bags left behind. But when he does, there’s something in his voice that Seungcheol can’t pinpoint.

“You aren’t either.”

Seungcheol follows after him, deeper into the bunker where it’s darker. Only the glow of Jihoon’s eyes and the sounds of him ripping through the blood bags alert him to where Jihoon is in relation to himself.

The dark makes it easier to speak. 

“I can’t leave. My father is a notorious hunter. I could easily be used against him.”

“I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt you.”

It’s said simply, but the words hit Seungcheol hard. “I don’t like to hunt, but I do love my family, Jihoon-ah. If I leave, I’ll never be able to see them again.”

Jihoon pauses, lets the silence sit between them for a moment. He tosses a bag aside, Seungcheol thinks, as the sound of another being ripped open interrupts the quiet. “Say you’re going solo or something. Keep in touch with them through that hunter’s database thing you’ve mentioned. Lie about vampires you’ve killed.”

Seungcheol laughs, and it’s unamused. “No one will believe that.” 

“Seungcheol -”

He goes quiet, a moment before Seungcheol is knocked back to the ground. The surprise hits him harder than the floor does.

Jihoon lays completely over him, trapping him to the ground. He doesn’t say a word, and he presses a finger to Seungcheol’s lips to keep him from doing so.

“Someone followed you here,” Jihoon whispers, and Seungcheol wishes the light were on, that he could see Jihoon or literally anything. 

Panic fills him. He didn’t bring a weapon, he had been too eager to get here. He didn’t even make sure no one followed him like he usually does. He just had one thing on his mind: Jihoon.

“Make a decision now, Seungcheol,” Jihoon whispers urgently, his finger digging into the corner of Seungcheol’s mouth. A hiss leaves both of their lips. One of warning from Jihoon and one of pain from Seungcheol. “The place is compromised.”

Seungcheol squeezes his eyes closed. He’s overwhelmed. He can’t hear whatever it is that Jihoon hears. He doesn’t know how close they are, how much time they have to prepare for an attack.

And most of all, he doesn’t know what to do if a hunter from his commune finds him here feeding a vampire. 

“They’re about to enter the building,” Jihoon snarls quietly. “Seungcheol.”

Seungcheol bites Jihoon’s hand to get it away from his mouth. Jihoon retracts it back with a noise of offense. “I can’t decide. Not right now.”

Jihoon curses and shoves off of him. “Fine. I’m going.”

Alarm has Seungcheol flying to his feet, but he can’t see in the fucking dark. He can’t have Jihoon leave, he won’t be able to find him again. He won’t know if he’s safe. “You can’t.”

He hears movement. He wants to turn on the light, but it works to their advantage against the hunters. 

Whatever Jihoon is going to respond with gets interrupted by a blast echoing through the bunker. Seungcheol barely has time to register it before Jihoon’s body is slamming into his own again, forcing him back.

“Do you want to spend your entire life doing this?” Jihoon asks, seethes between his teeth. “Hunting and killing people like me?”

It feels like an easy answer. Seungcheol doesn’t want to do that. He’s fought with himself over the years about it, but he’s always concluded the same thing. He hates it. 

And spending the rest of his life with his family, he’ll have to.

“Come with me,” Jihoon says, his tone borderlining a plea. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow, alright? I can’t leave you here, and it’s really hard to ignore the urge to drag you out with me whether you like it or not.”

Okay. Seungcheol is once again thankful for the dark because his cheeks fucking burn because of that. “So you’re saying I have no choice.”

Jihoon only grunts in response before he’s being lifted and thrown right over Jihoon’s shoulders. 

Despite not being a full vampire, Jihoon’s fast. Seungcheol’s stomach tosses and turns. It feels as if Jihoon’s climbing up the wall, and it’s only confirmed when Jihoon speaks again.

“There’s a hole in the ceiling that goes out to the back of the building. This way.”

“Is this where you were hiding when Vernon came?”

“Shut up and come on.”

It takes forever. Even more so than when Seungcheol was sneaking out of his bunker. He can’t hear Jihoon move, but it feels as if every inch forward Seungcheol takes is  _ loud _ . Louder than the hunters he can’t hear, but Jihoon assures are still there and easing their way closer to where he and Seungcheol had been. 

Seungcheol runs into Jihoon when he comes to a full stop, grunting softly at the sudden impact. Jihoon presses a hand to his chest like a silent request for him to be still. His palm is hot against his clavicle, just laying against him. 

Below them, Seungcheol can hear the voices. The whispers of shit talking between the hunters, the calls for Jihoon to come out. It enrages Seungcheol more than it ever has because it’s Jihoon. 

Jihoon who teaches him how to fight and worries about Seungcheol being harmed. Jihoon who has nowhere to go because they killed his family and other clans don’t accept who he is. 

Jihoon who gets so upset about feeding from humans that he gets himself sick while the hunters in Seungcheol’s commune drink vampire’s blood for no reason.

Jihoon who makes his stomach erupt in butterflies and his skin hot and is the only one to ever accept that Seungcheol fucking hates being a hunter. 

“Last chance,” Jihoon says, his fingers ever so softly brushing over the skin that peeks out the collar of Seungcheol’s shirt. “I don’t want to force you, so please say yes.”

“I made my choice,” Seungcheol whispers, reaching blindly for Jihoon in the dark. He doesn’t know what his hand connects with, but he squeezes. “Let’s get out of here.”

And if everything that has happened tonight has made Seungcheol feel like he’s been flipped upside and thrown around, it’s nothing compared to the wet touch against the corner of his mouth. It’s quick, light, and Seungcheol doesn’t even register that it’s Jihoon’s lips until he pulls away and urges Seungcheol into the building above them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiii I'm interested in knowing what you think so far!! 
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/taehcheeks)


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